Sri Lanka has signalled stronger interest in joining initiatives under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said after talks in Colombo on Wednesday with a delegation led by SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev.
The discussions covered increasing Sri Lanka’s engagement with the SCO and enhancing collaboration with member states across tourism, transport, logistics and agriculture, according to a readout reported by EconomyNext.
“I conveyed Sri Lanka’s keen interest in joining SCO initiatives and highlighting investment opportunities in the Port City and Free Trade Zones, and requested for the Secretary-General’s support in promoting Sri Lanka as a tourism and investment hub,” Herath said.
The pitch targets two flagship platforms Colombo has been promoting to foreign investors. The Colombo Port City has attracted close to US$900 million in committed foreign direct investment in five months, with vertical development pipelines exceeding US$15 billion and six firms granted strategic business status under the special economic zone framework.
The SCO, founded in Shanghai in 2001, groups China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and several Central Asian states, with a population footprint covering more than 40 percent of the world. Sri Lanka currently holds dialogue partner status. Full membership requires unanimous approval from existing members.
The visit comes during an intense diplomatic stretch for Sri Lanka, with Foreign Minister Herath returning from Belarus earlier this month and Russian President Vladimir Putin arriving in Beijing days after the Trump-Xi summit. The SCO outreach also sits alongside Sri Lanka’s parallel bid to deepen ties with major-power forums while preserving its IMF programme commitments.
Yermekbayev’s Colombo visit is part of the SCO Secretariat’s external engagement schedule ahead of the bloc’s annual heads-of-state meeting later this year.
